Special Needs: A Term Promoting Segregation and Discrimination?

Copyright© Bierdz 2018

Abstract: This article is for consciousness raising and for challenging conceptions concerning the socially created construct of disability. To this end let us examine the label “special needs” to consider how it promotes dehumanization, discrimination, and segregation; as these practices are eminently contrary to inclusive and multicultural values.

The term special needs is used as a cute euphemism for disability. But when are euphemisms used? According to the Webster’s online dictionary they are used for/when“substituting a word or phrase considered to be less offensive than another… replace a word viewed as insulting… an indirect softening phrase that is substituted for the straightforward naming of something unpalatable.” Here we need attend to two things: 1. I think we can all agree that substituting one offensive word with one that is less offensive does not remove the offence, it only, by definition, “lessens it”. And, 2. Why is disability offensive and unpalatable? Apparently our culture is still uncomfortable with their fellow humans with neurological and or physical differences. Perhaps those who use the term special needs have their own special needs: the need to work on acceptance of neuro/physical-diversity rather then viewing it as something unpalatable.

The term special needs serves as a method for shifting one’s attention away from the problem’s cause over to the one being victimized. One of the glories of humans is that we have created the world to fulfill our needs so we can advance and achieve far beyond other forms of life. Look around you, and almost everything you see, hear, touch, taste, or smell was designed by humans for humans. Not just the obvious things such as doors, stairs, books, and computers, but also the intangibles such as teaching methods, policies, and social opportunities. These are all societal accommodations (tools provided by society for need fulfillment). These accommodations are intentionally designed to be accessible by most people. But oddly when one is found to be inaccessible, we do not practice identifying the accommodation is the problem, rather we engage in labeling the person for whom the accommodations fails to work as having “special needs.”

We do well to ask the question, “From where does one’s disability arise?” A person who is wheelchair mobile is able to access another floor via a ramp or elevator, but not a flight of stairs. Is the problem in the person or in the stair accommodation? A person who is blind can access information through braille or digital recordings, but not through print. Is the problem in the person or the print accommodation? The answer is, it depends on how you want to view it. You can hold that, “People who cannot access stairs or print are different from those who can. They have special needs- we do not. Perhaps someday science will make them normal, and then they will be able to do what we do.” Or you can hold that, “People who cannot access stairs or print are different from those who can. However, we all have the same needs- get to another floor, obtain information, but we have not created equal access for all. Let’s use science to make accommodations and alternative accommodations that work for everyone so that all are able to succeed.”

If you found the first statement to be elitist and the second inclusive of diversity, then take the next step and consider which promoted discrimination and segregation. Was it the statement that viewed your fellow humans as having special needs and must be fixed, or the one that recognized that we all have the same needs but we do not all have the same levels of access, the access must be fixed?

The practices of segregation and discrimination are inherently simple and invisible when it comes to applying them to our fellow humans with Neuro/Physical-Differences. There is no sign that states, “No wheelchair users allowed beyond this point” where there are inaccessible doors, or a walking path in a park that is mowed grass, or items obstructing the sidewalk, but the end result is the same. No advertisement need be published stating, “Those with Neuro/Physical-Differences need not apply for, and are not welcome in, college or employment” when the accommodations used for educational or employment need fulfillment were designed to serve those who are Neuro/Physically-Typical, not everyone. Where is the reminder to help us recognize that the problem we have created for our fellow humans mainly stems from accommodations with an elitist design? Does it come from when “we” classify “them” as having “special needs”?

As a person classified as having several disabilities, I attest that none of my needs are any different from those of others. I need access to the socially created accommodations used for need fulfillment the same as all others. I just have less access, or no access, due to how accommodations are provided. I need others to recognize when discrimination is taking place and to take action just as do women, or the LBGT community, or those of any race or skin color. I need to be viewed as an equal in terms of my humanity and to have equality in both contributing to and benefiting from our local community and our global society. I reject having pride in a label that was forced upon me: such as disabled or special needs. However, I am proud of being neurologically and physically different, as these differences bring the world strengths it would otherwise not have.

The term Neuro/Physical-Difference is not a euphemism for disability: it is descriptive. The socially constructed concept of disability states that a person is unable to do something that “normal people” can do because of their Neuro/Physical-Difference. In this sense terms such as disability or special needs are elitist in nature: as they attribute the inability to perform to one’s neurological or physical differences rather than the design of the accommodation provided. Because we live in a constructed world of humanly designed accommodations, the counter argument is that such “inabilities” arise from lack of access to functional accommodations, not one’s Neurological and or Physical Differences. The focus is on changing the human designed accommodation, not on the person’s differences, to make them “normal.”

The term Neuro/Physical-Difference represents the immense diversity found in nature. All life represents Neuro/Physical-Variety. Just because a human cannot breathe underwater like a fish, see in the ultraviolet spectrum of light and fly like a bird, or perform photosynthesis as a plant to eat does not mean humans are disabled, but it does mean we- as one species among historic millions- are different. When viewing humans as a group, we can say that most modern humans are Neuro/Physically-Typical where as others are Neuro/Physically-Different- a testimony of nature’s propensity to create variety.

We are all Neuro/Physically-Divers, and we all have the same needs. To say that some of our fellow humans have special needs is to segregate them from the very foundations of humanity and completely ignore that our society was/is designed by humans for human need fulfillment, and that our focus should be on changing accommodations to create equality. If something need be labeled special, let it be the accommodation, not the person (Specialized accommodations, or alternative accommodations, not special needs). The terms Neuro/Physically-Typical and Neuro/Physically-Different recognize that all humans can be, and currently are, disabled by a lack of accommodations, elitist attitudes and practices, whether it be by color, race, religion, belief, gender, or preference.

When one faces discrimination and segregation, claiming that person has “special needs” is elitist, dismissive, and insulting. Take any group facing discrimination or segregation and claim they have special needs and watch what happens. Are you discriminated against as a woman? Well you have special needs! Are you segregated to poverty and low quality education and lack of equality in employment because of your color? Well you have special needs! Do you face bias, harsh judgement, and violence due to your sexual orientation or gender identity? Well you have special needs! The term special needs transforms discrimination and segregation into an internal attribute belonging to the person, when the fact is that discrimination and segregation come from others holding an elitist viewpoint that dismisses that those who are different are fellow human beings” who are entitled to equality..

The idea behind this article, and the idea behind one’s individual choice to stop using the term special needs, is consciousness raising, which in turn may lead to social/political changes. Fortunately, those in the U.S have freedom of speech, making articles like this possible. I am not recommending institutional controls over the use of the term special needs. I advocate for consciousness raising and individual choice to change social practices.

Human language only has meaning in the human realm. To experience firsthand the social/political impact of language all one need do is take words that were acceptable in one place or time and publicly use them in a place or time in which they are unacceptable. Or take the “in language” of a group and use it in earshot of that group as an outsider. Or ask, “How many religions mandate punishing or killing a person for certain utterances? How many governments have regulated one’s speech under fear of punishment?” Although a rose by any other name may smell as sweet, the rose will not judge you for your use of language; yet, others may judge the rose by how you label it.

What are your thoughts on this article? Please share them with me counseling@sbcglobal.net